Not Alone
by WalkingTravesty94
Summary: The McFly boys are in High School. Danny is acting strange... things don't seem to be as simple as they once were. But Dougie is the only person who's noticed the change. Can Dougie help his best friend, before things get too far out of control? - Mainly a Danny and Dougie fic, but Harry and Tom are in it too. Some strong Pones bromance, but no slash. Rated T for themes etc...
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi, so basically I've been in Spain and I had no way of updating my other fic, but while I was sunbathing I had a new idea and decided to start writing a new one as well. So anyway, PLEASE REVIEW, I'll post a couple of chapters now, but I have lots of ideas and lots already written, so please review and let me know if it's worth continuing… THANKS!**

Not Alone...

**Chapter 1:**

Dougie swung his backpack carelessly beside him as he wandered down the corridors towards his locker to meet his friends. It was Friday, finally - only one more day to go before the weekend. Tom and Harry were already there, Tom leaning casually against his own locker and laughing at Harry who was doing some sort of impression.

"Alright ladies?" Dougie joked, earning a fake-hurt look from Tom and a smack across the back of his head from Harry. "Ow! Mate I was kidding!" Dougie giggled. He threw his bag down beside his mates, still chuckling, and started to get his books out of his locker.

"Sorry Doug" Harry laughed, casually reaching into Dougie's locker with a sly grin and pulling out his art sketch pad. "Ooh let's have a look at what little Doug's been drawing, shall we Tom?"

"Harry, give it back!" Dougie shrieked. Tom rolled his eyes before taking the book from Harry and giving it back to Dougie. Dougie sheepishly buried the sketch pad at the back of his locker. No one, not even his family, was allowed to see his sketches.

"Woah, no need to get so touchy Doug" Harry teased, ruffling his friend's hair slightly. Dougie stuck his tongue out at him in response. Tom shook his head at his two childish friends.

"Hey, where's Dan? It seems I could do with some mature company" Tom grinned.

"Danny? Mature? Nah mate, you won't find Danny being mature, EVER" Harry chuckled, ducking as Dougie tried to poke him. Tom looked up and down the corridor; there were students everywhere but their friend was nowhere to be seen. Almost as if on cue, Danny then appeared in the doorway at the far end of the corridor, head down and a hood covering most of his face.

"Why on earth is he wearing a hoodie? It's June..." Harry thought aloud as their friend approached. Danny flashed them a quick smile and started to get his books from his locker.

"Alright lads? Have a good one last night?" Danny said in his thick Bolton accent as he turned to face the guys for the first time, pulling down his hood as he did so. The three were slightly surprised to see no visible change to their friend's face. They had almost expected him to be trying to cover a black eye from a fight or something. Danny was always getting into fights.

"Yeah was good mate, would have been better if you were there though" Dougie answered him with a warm smile. "Anyway, what's with the hoodie? It's baking!"

"Dunno, mate. Felt cold I guess" Danny shrugged. Satisfied with Danny's answer, Tom and Harry said their goodbyes and left to go to their lessons.

Dougie turned to Danny. "Yay! Double chemistry with me now, mate! Aren't you lucky!" he said sarcastically, throwing his arm around his friend's shoulders jokily. Danny flinched slightly at the contact, then quickly tried to hide the grimace of pain on his face but Dougie had already noticed it.

Danny threw his arm around Dougie's shoulders and flashed him another smile to reassure him everything was ok. "Great... well, let's get it over with then... Come on" he said with a half smile. Dougie smiled back, but he wasn't convinced everything was ok. He couldn't stop thinking about Danny's strange behaviour all through double chemistry, or any of the lessons that followed. He decided he would have to keep an eye on his friend for a while.

…


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: As per usual, I forgot the disclaimer on the first chapter… so: I don't own McFly, just the storyline.**

**Chapter 2:**

Last period of the day was PE for Dougie and Danny. Tom and Harry were both in the year above, so had different lessons. The sadistic PE teacher had the class of teenage boys running laps of the track in the boiling hot summer sun. Dougie, who always tried his best to avoid any form of physical exertion, was grumbling all the way around the track about how unfair it was. He turned to Danny, who looked like he was about to pass out.

"Mate, how are you still wearing that hoodie? I'm melting over here!" Dougie asked, a mixture of amusement and concern written on his face.

"Dunno, I'm not that hot really" Danny tried, but his bright red face told Dougie otherwise. The boys ran for a while longer before Danny stopped, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath.

"You alright, mate?" Dougie asked, concern clear in his voice now. Danny didn't answer, just put one shaky hand to his forehead and the other gripped Dougie's arm for support. "Dan, come sit down for a minute" Dougie said, his voice shaking slightly with worry. He led his friend to the grass bank on the side of the track and sat him down.

"Shall I get Mr Robson? He might know what to do" Dougie asked nervously, at a loss for what to say. Danny shook his head slightly but continued to stare at the floor, breathing hard. "Right, well you need to get that hoodie off, you've probably got heat stroke or something" Dougie said, taking charge. He helped his friend to pull off the hoodie, and was surprised when Danny didn't argue. Dougie's eyes widened when he saw his friend's bare arms, though. A large purple bruise covered most of Danny's upper left arm, and his right wrist was a similar colour; the marks looked finger shaped, almost as if someone had grabbed his wrist and twisted it.

Dougie tried to ignore the desire to ask about the bruises, and focused on getting his friend a drink of water. After a few minutes Danny seemed to be feeling a bit better, and his face had returned to a normal colour again.

Eventually, Dougie's curiosity got the better of him; he just had to ask. He looked at his friend who was still breathing deeply and looking in the other direction. "Danny... what happened to your arms?"

"What?" Danny replied quickly.

"Erm... the bruises..."

"Oh... that" Danny said, with a guilty look on his face. "I... fell."

"You fell...?" Dougie repeated questioningly, clearly not buying it.

"Yeah...I...er...tripped up the stairs the other day, and I...umm...sort of tried to grab the handrail, but I grabbed my wrist instead and then I landed funny on my arm..." He trailed off, still not meeting Dougie's eyes.

Dougie couldn't think of anything to say to that. It sounded ridiculous, but then this was Danny they were talking about; anything was possible where Danny was concerned.

Danny continued, "I didn't want you guys to see, because I...er...didn't want you to think I was a complete idiot. And I doubted you'd believe how it happened." He was right, Dougie didn't believe his story, but he wasn't going to tell Danny that.

"Well that explains the hoodie, then" Dougie said thoughtfully. He decided to go along with it, to pretend he believed Danny's story. "Dan, you are possibly the biggest idiot I have ever met, do you realise that?" Dougie smirked before inspecting his friend's wrist more closely. "Only you could manage to do this..." Dougie said, though deep down he doubted even Danny could be that stupid. But if Danny was lying, then how did it happen?

…


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sort of a filler chapter... it gets all intense in the next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW, it makes me smile :D x**

**Chapter 3:**

When school finished the four boys headed to Tom's to play his new Mario Kart game. Tom's mum was home from work when they arrived and insisted they all stayed for dinner. Never ones to say no to food, the boys all agreed, though Danny looked somewhat reluctant. His hesitation to answer went unnoticed though by the other three, who were already running outside for a kick-about.

While the boys tucked in to their pizza, Dougie decided to test Harry and Tom's reaction to Danny's story, to see whether he really was overreacting or not.

"So guys, guess what Danny has managed to do now..." he began with a giggle and a wink in Danny's direction.

"Oh great, thanks Doug" Danny said, with a mixture of exasperation and worry on his face. "Now they're gonna think I'm an idiot too!"

"Mate, no offence but I think that ship has already sailed..." Harry said, trying to suppress a giggle.

"Thanks..." Danny said quietly, but he couldn't help smiling.

"Well... what did he do then?" Tom said, looking eager to know what stupid thing his friend had managed to do this time.

"He only went and fell UP the stairs, didn't he!" Dougie started, earning grins from Tom and Harry.  
"But that's not the best bit. When he tried to grab the handrail, he grabbed his own wrist instead and then fell straight on his shoulder. He has the bruises to prove it!" Dougie finished, watching his friends' faces for the doubt he was expecting. Instead, however, both Tom and Harry's faces creased up and they fell about laughing. Clearly, they believed every word of Danny's story. To be fair, if anyone could manage to do it, it would be Danny.

After the boys had finished eating dinner and laughing at Danny, they headed to Tom's room and settled themselves on the multi-coloured beanbags in front of his flat screen TV. Dougie couldn't help but watch Danny in case he acted differently to normal; he hadn't been himself today at all. This of course caused him to play the game pretty badly.

"Dude, wake up! This is Mario Kart not Barbie goes joyriding!" Harry shouted at Dougie over the noise the four were making.

"Oh aren't you funny, Harry..." Dougie sighed, but he was still concentrating on Danny.

"Come on Tom! You drive worse than my grandma!" Danny giggled. Dougie smiled, happy that normal Danny-behaviour had returned. Maybe he had been overreacting after all.

The boys played for a couple of hours before someone's phone started to ring. Recognising his ring tone, Danny dropped his controller instantly and grabbed his phone from the floor beside him. The other three watched in confusion as their friend dashed out of the room and down the stairs, out of earshot to answer the call.

"I wonder what that was about?" Tom wondered aloud, thinking exactly the same as Dougie and Harry.

"Shall I go and make sure he's ok?" Dougie said with a worried glance at his friends.

"No, you'd best leave him. He would tell us if there was something wrong. He'll be back in a minute I'm sure." Harry reasoned.

Sure enough, Danny returned to Tom's room a few minutes later, though Dougie couldn't help but notice how his face had paled and how jittery he seemed. Danny bent down to pick up his jacket before turning to his friends.

"I...er... Have to go. Dad needs help with something. I'll catch you guys later. Thank your mum for me, Tom?"

"Of course, mate" Tom smiled. "See you later!"

"Are you still coming to mine tomorrow?" Dougie piped up.

"Yeah course, mate. Can't wait!" Danny smiled; a real smile for the first time that day. Dougie smiled back; at least he would be able to keep an eye on his friend tomorrow.

"See you later, Dan" Harry grinned, before returning to the game, causing Tom and Dougie to get left behind.

"Oi, cheat!" Tom shouted shaking his head and laughing. Dougie tickled Harry making him drop his controller and lose his lead once more. For a minute, Dougie had forgotten about Danny's strange behaviour, but he soon remembered when he saw that their friend had left the room almost silently.

"Guys, do you think Danny was alright today? He seemed a little strange, didn't he?" Dougie said in a small voice after the race had finished.

"Not really, he seemed fine to me, mate. You should stop worrying so much!" Harry chuckled.

"Yeah, he was no more weird than normal, Doug" Tom agreed.

Dougie sighed. "Ok..." He wasn't convinced though. He made a mental note to text his friend when he got home that night, just to make sure everything was ok.

…


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Ok, so I know it's been ABSOLUTELY AGES since I updated, and I'm really sorry about that! I've been away a lot, and I'm about to go to Reading so I thought I'd better update before I went! I hope this update is worth it… I don't know… Please REVIEW and let me know :D It may sound cliché but your reviews really do make me happy :) I'm also sorry for anyone reading my other fic, 'You chose to let me down'. It's been even longer since I updated that one, but I promise I will update it very soon! Ok, this chapter is a bit more intense, I hope it's ok… I'm not gonna be able to post again until next week, probably Tuesday as I'm at Reading til Monday… so see you soon :D Oh and PLEASE REMEMBER TO REVIEW!**

**Chapter 4:**

Danny had almost had a heart attack when he'd seen his father's name flash up on his caller ID. He hadn't realised how late it had become, and he figured his dad was going to be angry. Boy was he right. He had to hold the phone away from his ear, his dad was shouting so loud. He sounded very angry, and a little bit drunk as well.

Danny felt sick with nerves as he ran down the road in the direction of his house. Luckily he only lived a few streets away, so it wasn't long before he was taking the last few shaky steps up his front path and putting his key in the lock.

He stepped inside and initially the house seemed quiet, empty. If only that were the case. He walked cautiously through into the living room and found his mum sitting on the sofa, a stern look on her face.

"Where the hell have you been?!" She shouted, her face contorted with rage.

"T-Tom's house. I did tell you-"

"You didn't tell me anything, so don't start acting like this is my fault. Your father is livid. He's waiting for you in the kitchen. DON'T make him any more angry." She spat, before turning to head upstairs. She always got out of the way when his father was angry.

Danny took a deep breath and gently pushed open the door to the kitchen. His dad was sat at the table facing the other direction, and from the back he looked surprisingly calm. Danny's breath caught in his throat as his father's chair scraped back across the floor-tiles and he stood up. He turned to face his son, face purple with rage. Danny's heart sunk when he saw the half-empty bottle of vodka beside his father on the table. This was not going to end well.

"Well?" His father shouted, the one word sending shivers down his son's spine. "Why weren't you home after school?" he bellowed.

"I w-went to Tom's, Dad. We've had it planned for ages. I told mum the other day..." Danny started, face to the ground. He looked up slightly to see his dad's reaction. His face had become, if possible, even more purple.

"Oh so you were pissing about with those stupid little friends of yours! Instead of being here, helping me and your mother make dinner for you and your sister! Who gave you the right?!" As he shouted, Danny couldn't help but back up slowly against the wall. He knew what was going to happen.

"I'm s-s-sorry, Dad. I d-didn't think. It won't happen again, I p-promise!" Danny stuttered.

"You're bloody right it won't happen again, you ungrateful child. You're grounded."

"But Dad, Dougie and I had plans tomorrow!" Danny said, though he instantly regretted it.

His Dad's fist swung towards him, colliding seconds later with the left side of his face. Danny felt the familiar sensation of blood trickling down his chin as his nose exploded with pain. His Dad continued to shout, voice filled with venom. "Well you can forget them! There's no way you're going out with those idiots anymore. You will cancel, and you'll stay here. And if you EVER talk back to me like that again, you little brat..." Then, each of the last three words, he emphasised with a punch to Danny's stomach, "You'll. Regret. It!"

Danny doubled over, clutching his stomach in pain. He tried to fight the tears that were threatening to fall. He couldn't bring himself to answer, or even look at his father.

"Got it? Good! Now get to bed you piece of shit!" his Dad finished, slurring from the alcohol, before roughly pulling him out of the room and towards the stairs. He continued to drag Danny by his t-shirt up the stairs until they got to his bedroom. He opened the door, pushed his son inside, then slammed the door shut again with such force that a picture fell off the wall in Danny's room.

Danny waited until he could hear his dad's footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs before sliding down the wall he was leaning against and breaking down in tears. He crawled over to the corner of the room, pulled his legs into his chest and buried his face in his knees, crying.

After what felt like hours, but in reality was probably only a few minutes, Danny's door opened slowly. He didn't look up from his spot on the floor to see who it was, he didn't even bother trying to hide his tears. His sister knelt down beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. She ran a comforting hand through his hair and whispered soothing things in his ear. He buried his face in her shoulder and cried. Eventually Danny's sobs subsided and he looked up at his sister with teary eyes. She was looking back at him with a sympathetic expression. He tried to smile at her.

"Thanks" he sniffed.

"What for?" she asked with a loving smile.

"For being here for me, I guess" Danny said with a sigh.

"Any time, bro" she said. "It will all be ok, you know. He will stop drinking" she reassured her brother, though Danny wasn't sure who she was trying to convince more.

She got up after that and, with one final loving look back at her brother, she left. Danny signed and got up off the floor. He took off his trousers, changed his t-shirt and climbed into his bed. He was just about to go to sleep, when his phone flashed with a new message from Dougie.

'Everything ok, mate? You seemed to leave in a bit of a hurry. You missed Harry's epic failure at FIFA ;) x'

Danny smiled and sent a reply quickly.

'Yeah everything's fine, mate. Damn, wish I could have seen it! :( Oh almost forgot, I'm gonna have to cancel on you for tomorrow, really sorry. Dad needs my help with some stuff. We can reschedule though, right? x'

He put his phone on his table and turned over, wincing at the pain in his stomach from his Dad's punches as he did so. He was going to have some nasty bruising tomorrow. Exhausted from the stressful day, he closed his eyes and let sleep take over him in seconds.

…


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello guys :) I owe you a massive apology… I've been crazily busy these past few weeks with music auditions and A2 Levels but I promise I haven't given up on writing these. I realise it's been weeks, maybe even months since I updated this fic. and it's been even longer since I added to YCTLMD, (my other fic). I have some spare time today, so I'm going to work on the next few chapters of YCTLMD, and for now I'm going to leave you all with the next chapter of Not Alone… it's not that long I'm afraid, but I hope it's worth the wait. I'm going to make a real effort to make my updates more regular now I'm back in the routine with school etc. Sorry again… I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 5:**

Dougie woke with a start as he rolled over too far and fell out of his bed. He sat up rubbing his eyes and feeling a little embarrassed. Peering at the clock on his bedside table, he saw that it was gone 11am. Danny would be here soon. He vaguely remembered texting Danny last night, but had fallen asleep before he got a reply. He scrambled back onto his bed and grabbed his phone, which was still by his pillow. He had two messages; the first was from Tom.

'Alright mate? You left your jacket at mine last night. I'll drop it round later if you like :) x'

He quickly checked his other message; it was from Danny. His face fell when he read the part about him having to cancel their plans. Dougie had been looking forward to spending some time just the two of them; he hardly saw Danny these days. He quickly sent a reply saying it was fine and they would reschedule later.

He sighed then replied to Tom's message:

'Thanks, mate, that would be great! You busy later? Danny's had to cancel and I do not wanna spend all day stuck inside with my mum and sister ;) x'

He threw his phone down and collapsed onto his bed, sighing again. He was still a bit concerned about Danny - something had changed, but he didn't know what.

Danny blinked a couple of times and turned over to find his sister Ellie sitting beside him on his bed, gently shaking his shoulder. A grin spread across her face before she began to speak softly.

"Getting up any time soon?" she chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so..." Danny sighed, attempting to sit up. He gasped and clutched his stomach as pain shot through him. Ellie frowned and helped him stand up.

"How bad are they?" She asked cautiously, referring to the bruises Danny was sure to have.

Danny didn't reply, just pulled the front of his t-shirt up revealing a scattering of multi-coloured bruises that covered most of his middle.

Ellie gasped then looked her brother in the eyes again, her face more serious now. "You'll have to stop winding him up, you know, otherwise he'll just keep doing this to you" she said with a sigh.

Danny was shocked by her change in attitude from the previous night. "This isn't my fault! He's always drunk, that's the problem!" he retorted, raising his voice a little.

"You make him worse though, always doing things to piss him off!" She said, her smile from earlier had vanished completely now and her voice was getting louder too.

"I can't believe you're defending him! Leave me alone, just get out!" Danny shouted, and Ellie did so willingly. Danny stood, too stunned to move, and tried to steady his breathing. Ellie had basically made out that he was asking to get beaten up every night! Danny could feel fresh tears stinging his eyes once more, but he shook his head in an attempt to make them go away.

He walked into the bathroom and inspected his bruised face in the mirror. His nose was swollen, and his left eye was a dark bluey-purple colour. He pulled off his t-shirt and looked at his topless self in the full-length mirror, barely recognizing the person staring back at him. His reflection showed his pale skin, covered in bruises, all from different times when his Dad had been angry and drunk. He looked thinner too; he hadn't felt like eating much recently. He sighed and went back to his room, found some fresh clothes to change into, then padded down the stairs into the kitchen.

His father was drinking coffee at the kitchen table. Danny shuddered, remembering the last time he was in the kitchen alone with his Dad. Without saying a word, he boiled the kettle and made himself some coffee. He was just about to put some bread in the toaster when his father slammed the newspaper he had been reading down on the kitchen worktop beside him, making him flinch. Danny's breath caught in his throat as he waited for his Dad to speak.

"Right. I've got some jobs you can help me with today. I take it you cancelled those 'plans' you had?" He looked at Danny, his eyes piercing.

"Y-yeah I texted Dougie," he stuttered.

"Good, well hurry up and get your worthless arse outside then. I want these things done today, I don't care how long it takes you."

Danny nodded in response and focused on making his toast to avoid eye contact. This was going to be a long day...

…


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hi guys… if anyone's still reading this the firstly, THANK YOU SO MUCH, and secondly… I am so sorry it's been so long… I never wanted to be one of those people that never update (because I know how annoying it is) but unfortunately it seems to have happened… basically I've been struggling with a bit of writer's block, but also I majorly underestimated A2 levels… :/ Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANYONE WHO'S REVIEWED AND PM'D ME, IT MEANS SO MUCH TO HAVE SOME FEEDBACK 3 So… hopefully now it's almost the holidays I'm going to try to write a bit more frequently… Anyway… here's chapter 6 :) Sorry it's not too long, but I already have most of the next chapter, so next update won't be long… Hope it was worth the wait…**

**Chapter 6:**

Tom had stopped by Dougie's house briefly to give him back his jacket, but was busy with his family so couldn't hang out with him. Harry was busy too, which meant Dougie was alone and very bored.

He tried to busy himself with normal, mundane things like cleaning his lizard tank, eating and watching daytime TV, but the mess he made caused his mum to start to get annoyed.

"Look, either you find yourself something to do that doesn't involve making a mess, or you can take your sister shopping - she needs some new school shoes" his mum shouted, knowing full well this would make Dougie move faster than ever. Dougie hated shopping, especially when it was with his mum or sister.

"Fine!" Dougie shouted back, but he quickly did as he was told, for fear of being made to go shopping.

He decided to go to the skate park a few streets away to see if any of his other mates were there. Grabbing his skateboard and jacket, he shouted goodbye to his mum and left before she could argue. He was disappointed when he arrived to find that none of his friends were about, and there was a large gang of unfriendly looking guys in one corner. He turned to leave when one of them shouted at him.

"Oi, faggot? Where you going? Scared you off, did we?" The other guys all laughed along and joined in.

"Yeah, don't be shy. Come and join us _sweetie_!" a deeper voice jeered.

"I think he's sad because his little boyfriends aren't here!" another guy said, earning another round of laughs.

Dougie recognized who some of the guys were now; they were the 'hard' guys from his school, the sorts of guys who pushed the smaller kids around. They all lived on one of the rough estates on the other side of town. Dougie's heart started to beat faster as he saw some of the guys get up from the group and make their way over to where he was standing. He turned on his heels and started to run, he had no idea where he was running to, or if the guys were even following him still, but he didn't want to stop.

Eventually he started to recognize his surroundings; he was on a street somewhere near Danny's house. He stopped outside a closed-down shop and leant against the wall, breathing hard. Danny only lived down the end of this road; he decided he may as well go and say hi before he went home again.

As Dougie was about to knock on the front door, he spotted his friend's figure in the garage. Danny had his back to him, and he appeared to be cleaning his dad's car. Dougie had just turned to walk over to the garage, when the front door swung open and Danny's father appeared in the doorway, his face stern.

"Can I help you?" he said rudely.

"Err, I was just passing and thought I'd come and say hi to Dan, if that's ok..." Dougie said shakily. He was starting to wish he'd taken up his mum's offer of shoe shopping.

"No, it's not ok. He told you he was busy. What part of that did you not understand?" he snarled.

Dougie gulped and looked at his feet nervously; he had never felt this awkward at Danny's house before. "S-sorry, I didn't really think. I'll just go..." he stuttered, before starting to walk back up the front path.

"Good idea" Danny's dad grunted, before going back inside and slamming the front door behind him.

Dougie couldn't quite believe what had just happened. Why had he been so rude? He made his way along the road past the Jones' garage, and briefly caught eye contact with his friend. Dougie gasped when he saw Danny's face, even from a distance he could see that it was bruised. Danny looked away almost instantly and carried on cleaning the car, as if he hadn't even seen his best friend.

Dougie watched from the road and saw Danny look up quickly in the direction of the door, before quickly returning to his cleaning. His dad had just appeared in the doorway, and Dougie's heart sank as he put two and two together. He couldn't be sure, but he had a pretty good idea what might be going on.

…

**AN: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW… IT MAKES ME HAPPY :D**


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